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SPACE BROTHERS #1 -- Watch & Learn

Plain titles aside, this anime will make you feel mighty, mighty good.

Well, this show sucker-punched me pretty soundly. In a good way, of
course. A good way.

Certainly, this might be a case of apples and oranges, but whenever I
do my random samplings of pilots, I always end finding plenty of points and
counterpoints to compare and contrast the shows with. SPACE BROTHERS isn’t that similar to KIDS ON
THE SLOPE, certainly, but I’d contend that they can be grouped together for how
their plots aren’t about fights, techno-speak and boobies in the way
that the lion’s share of anime I cover on this site is. And, with that accounted for, I’ll say that
the multiple hooks in this pilot were a lot sharper than those in KIDS
ON THE SLOPE.

Let’s be honest, “SPACE BROTHERS” isn’t exactly the most intriguing
title, so I wasn’t expecting anything that’d really grab me when I pulled this up
on Crunchyroll. So I’m still pretty surprised that I ended up getting such
good vibes from it - - hell, I’m actually feeling pretty good just typing
about it, now. Maybe it’s mainly because it reminds me so much of crowd-pleasing
flicks of the 80’s that could have fairly large scopes without necessarily having
“high concept” premises. I was half-expecting a Kenny Loggins song to play on the outro.

The notion of the space program even existing into the
2020’s is maybe a little provocative at this point, in of itself, and I’m sure I’ll be getting all
sorts of education on the field from the clear amounts of research that went
into this. However, it’s the titular brothers that make all the technobabble
interesting, and these two are some fully-realized human beings with the sort of careful nuance you rarely see outside of a Mike Judge cartoon.

The hell with it... even if this is just a crafty public relations campaign by NASA, I'm still going to go ahead and watch the rest of this. Stay tuned.

I doubt NASA is involved given that is a Japanese show and the Japanese have always had a space fascination. Anything that helps keep America interested in Space though is a good thing to my mind, as we need to be out there now rather than later. Whats the Babalyon five quote...if we don't go out into space not only do we die but Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Albert Einstein also die. Something like that.

I like the older brother with the black hair .He seems reasonably almost heroic.Few would punch their boss over their little brother.An theirs your feel good moment.Least for me any way.

Watched this about a month ago or so.Been saving up the episodes to watch 4 at time.So much anime so little time.This would it be safe to put this in the comedy tags?But i do not think one can go slice of life .I mean to few would relate to nasa an space in their daily lives.But science fiction fits.

@rubberluffy: Space Brothers is kind of slice of life light, comedy about becoming an astronaut. There's no commercialized space travel (so far). It's basically what would the next logical steps in space travel be for us if NASA still had a budget to send people to the moon and beyond.

I'm glad you brought some light to this. Hopefully this won't end up as one of the shows people pretend doesn't exist when they say all anime is pretty much the same or nothing but kung fu, mechs, school girls, and boobies.

I doubt NASA is involved given that is a Japanese show and the Japanese have always had a space fascination. Anything that helps keep America interested in Space though is a good thing to my mind, as we need to be out there now rather than later. Whats the Babalyon five quote...if we don't go out into space not only do we die but Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Albert Einstein also die. Something like that.

Given the degree of NASA and JAXA cooperaton, it would not be a surprise actually. Also it states in the credits specifically that there is NASA cooperation. Also regarding Japan's space fascination, that is not true, especially not now. The particularly interesting thing about Space Brothers is that it comes on the heal of Gundam AGE, a show that struggles in ratings specifically because, through a number of polls, it was discovered young kids, the target audience of the show, lacked interest in space. Space Brother only works because it is a Seinen show, and appeals to various points of nostalgia to audiences 20 and older, whether it be the interest in space, or simply Mutta's social, familial, and professional progress.

@Turambar: but both have a space connection and to me show the Japanese association with space. I mean even EVA does to some extent. Japan really does love their space operas or at least did. We still have that show this season about the female space pirates.

@Turambar: but both have a space connection and to me show the Japanese association with space. I mean even EVA does to some extent. Japan really does love their space operas or at least did. We still have that show this season about the female space pirates.

DID is the key word there. Also I'd say Bodacious Space Pirates is banking on something other than Space to appeal to its audience.

@Turambar: hmm I don't know, setting is important and it actually isn't nearly as sexual as you would expect from the title given the stuff I have read about it here. New shows with space themes have decreased though you are right about that.

I think the connection between Space Brothers and Planetes is about as strong the connection between Space Brothers and Naruto with the reasoning being that both of them have brothers in them.

Dig Deeper into Space Brothers

Nanba and Mutta Hibito are brothers who dream of becoming astronauts. Nanba, the younger brother, has become an astronaut. Space Brothers follows Mutta as he struggles to achieve his dreams of becoming an astronaut, and more importantly being a model big brother.